Rainbow Dash was lying prone on the bed. She was trying her best to remain still, using all her strength to not move by a single inch. Yet her back kept jumping up and down under her periodicals hiccups.
She has been crying there for a while now, holding tight her pillows and blankets. Despite her attempt at some comfort, she just felt more hurt. And she couldn’t understand why, or how to stop it.
‘Get over it!’ she thought to herself, ‘It went just as you wanted it, and this is just uselessly painful.’
But her emotions had taken over. She was completely harmless against that tearing pain inside her chest.
‘Please, stop it.’
Rainbow punched herself in the abdomen, trying to stop her hiccups.
‘Please, stop.’
‘Please...’
‘Stop...’
Applejack and Fluttershy, quite in a hurry and bustling with their cells, were walking towards the parking lot while discussing the best route of action.
“Big Mac ain’t answering his phone, he never does while he’s drivin’.” Applejack turned towards Fluttershy. “What about you, better luck?”
“I’m sorry,” replied Fluttershy, putting down her phone. “But I think Rainbow’s phone is switched off.”
“Well then, Ah suppose we’ll have to go and talk with them in this case. Ah’ll take Big Mac while you handle miss ego there.”
Applejack noticed Fluttershy frowning a little while she was talking.
“What’s in your mind, sugarcube?”
“I, I just think we should flip roles.”
“Sorry, but why should you take care of my brother? Besides you seem to know Rainbow Dash better than me.”
“Believe me, I think she would be more direct with you.”
Applejack suspected that there was something hidden under that statement, but she would have waited for that.
In front of them there were the CMCs, getting on Applejack’s truck for a ride.
“All right then, but could you take my sis’ with you?”
“Of course, can I have your keys please?”
“Ah beg your perdon?”
Fluttershy took her keys, offering them in exchange to Applejack.
“See, there’s no space in my minivan, so we’ll have to use your car.”
“Uh, sure.” Applejack wasn’t sure about it. “But will you be fine? My truck ain’t exactly a minivan...”
“O please, Applejack. You know I’m a very cautious driver. ”
She was right, actually. Applejack had never seen a more careful, patient and slow driver than her friend. Slowly, she extended her keys to Fluttershy, who took them and walked confidently towards the truck.
“Besides, how much different can it be,” she muttered to herself.
Fluttershy entered the truck on the driving seat and started her routine of preparation, while the three girls in the back were playing some new game on their phone.
“I’ll pick Squirtle,” said Sweetie.
“Ah pick Bulbasaur,” said Bloom.
“I’m picking Charmander,” said Scootaloo, “this thing grows wings when it evolves.”
“All right little things,” said Fluttershy, giving a reassuring smile. “I’m picking you up now.”
She got three bemused looks and zero laughs.
“Was that a joke?”
Fluttershy scoffed. “I can be funny too,” she said while turning on the motor.
Or at least she tried to, since it went off instantly.
“You didn’t pull enough gas in it,” pointed Apple Bloom
Fluttershy spinned the key again, “Oh, sorr...”
She was abruptly interrupted by the raging cry of the engine that was now pushing the truck backwards. Fluttershy immediately hit the brakes, but their movement stopped with the sound of a crash between the rear bumper and the front of another car.
All the girls just stared forward in awe.
“I hope Applejack didn’t see it,” muttered Fluttershy with wide open eyes.
“Ah’ll just pretend Ah didn’t see it,” muttered Applejack while passing by the street beyond.
Rainbow Blitz was riding a power bike when he heard the doorbell ringing.
Wondering who could be, he opened the front door and found Applejack.
“Howdy, mister Blitz.”
“Hi, Applejack. What are you doing here?”
“Ah was hoping to see Rainbow Dash.”
Rainbow Blitz scratched his head. “I don’t think she's here.”
“Are you sure?” asked she, slightly disappointed.
“I’ll check.”
Rainbow Dash was on her bed, crouched on the side. She had stopped crying but her face was still moist and her mood was just as low as before. She didn't want either to see anyone nor to do anything.
She heard a muffled voice from downstairs, “Little rainbow! Are you home?”
‘No, I'm not,’ thought her, ‘and I hate being called like that.’
Dash simply remained motionless, hugging tight her pillow. After a few seconds, she heard the sound of approaching footsteps.
Rainbow Dash quickly wiped herself and flipped the pillow, hiding the wet stains under it just a moment before the door started to shriek open.
Sitting up without looking at the door, she bitterly said, “Listen ‘daddy’, I want to stay alone.”
Despite her request, the footsteps continued their way inside the room. Then a voice with a southern accent spoke. “You sure, my little rainbow?”
Rainbow’s head darted up surprised, then turned towards the grinning face of Applejack. She had made her way inside the room and now was taking a seat on the bed beside Rainbow Dash, who clearly was expecting someone else according to her confused look.
“Your ‘daddy’ told me Ah could wait for you in your room.”
Rainbow Dash blushed for the embarrassment. ‘Of course there was somebody else,’ she thought, ‘Dad calls me like that only to tease me in front of others.
“Aww, ain't you just so cute?”
Noticing how quickly Rainbow’s face went from embarrassed to annoyed, Applejack decided that she had broken the ice and could be more direct. She leaned closer to her friend and spoke with a more caring voice.
“Now, what's itching you?”
“Nothing.”
“Come on now, don't be like that.” Applejack grabbed her by the shoulders. “You can trust me.”
Rainbow knew that. She trusted Applejack like anyone else, except maybe their common friends and her father. Besides, it was useless to even try lying to her. Even so, she was reluctant to just blab it all out.
“I’m just off.”
“Why so?”
“Because,” ‘him’ “reasons.”
“Ah see, and may Ah assume that a talk with my brother is involved?”
That question surprised Rainbow Dash once again, and a look at Applejack convinced her that she wasn’t questioning anything.
For some reason, that caused a little wave of anger to flow inside Rainbow.
“Thanks for the stupid advice, by the way.”
Fast as it came, her rage flowed away, replaced with a tip of guilt.
“Sorry.”
“Worry none, sugarcube.” AJ waited for a moment, allowing her friend to add something. Seeing that she was ok with staying quiet (for once) she continued. “But what the hay did he say in order to pull you off like this?”
Rainbow Dash lowered her tone, sounding more sad than angry now. “Not much actually, something like ‘it’s ok.’”
“That doesn’t seem so bad to me, actually,” said AJ without thinking. A little doubt came to her mind after pondering about that for a couple of seconds. “What did you say?”
“What I had to say,” said an even sadder Rainbow Dash, who was looking away from her friend. “That it was a prank from Pinkie that… that it was never supposed to be uploaded, that it was just a stupid thing...”
“But did you tell him that you weren’t lying?”
Just as she understood what AJ was referring to, Rainbow’s anger raised high once again. She turned towards Applejack and shouted.
“Are you still on that?! How do I have to say it so that you can understand?! I. Don’t. Like. Him.”
“Then why are you so upset?” Applejack asked her, without retreating of an inch.
“Because...”
Rainbow Dash paused, uncertain, and got even more angry from it. It should have been clear why she was upset.
“Because I’m a teen, the puberty is doing this to me. I’m confused, I don’t know what to think. Plus everybody is laughing at my back right now.”
“You had an entire day for that, and Ah didn’t see you fall in self-loathin’ until now.”
A snort was well enough to express how ridiculous that statement was. “Please, I’m too awesome to be loathed, even by myself.” She raised her chin with her eyes closed and crossed her arms over her chest.
Applejack didn’t say a thing, she just kept her glare on Rainbow. If she wanted to praise herself as usual then fine, but she wouldn’t have avoided the topic.
Finally, Rainbow reopened her eyes and watched her friend. Then, she leaned her elbows on her knees and supported her head on her palms.
“Why do you even care?”
“Because you’re hurtin’, and Ah care about both you and my brother.”
“Geez, whatever it could have been it’s over anyway. You don’t have to worry anymore.”
Applejack bit her cheek, mastering the courage to prove her friend wrong. What she said next trembled some of Rainbow’s convictions.
“Ah don’t want that.”
An incredulous Rainbow Dash turned her head towards Applejack.
“What do you mean?”
“Ah mean… Ah don’t want it to be already over.”
Rainbow Dash breathed, then breathed, then breathed again, then she dared to ask.
“You… want me to be with your brother?”
Applejack couldn’t hide her excitement. “Have you thought about it? That would make you officially part of the family, we would be sisters! And Mac would finally have a girlfriend!”
Eyes bulging, mouth agape and speechless. That’s how Rainbow Dash was looking at her friend after hearing those words.
Noticing her reaction, Applejack coughed a little in her fist. Nevertheless, the shock endured. “Aw come on! It wouldn’t be so bad.”
Rainbow Dash recollected herself and shook her head. “But I thought you were angry about it. Don’t you think I will spoil him or something?”
“Well, Ah admit that Ah didn’t take it well at the moment. But Ah thought about it, and Ah reckon that...” Applejack blushed a little. “Ah reckon that it would be good if he was a little more like you.”
Rainbow Dash blushed a little too, before giggling. “Hehe, of course, it would.” Then she turned serious again. “But why?”
Applejack straddled on the bed before starting to explain.
“Ah figured that all my best choices fall on one of our pals, which includes you.
"My first pick would be Fluttershy, she’s just the girl that fits perfectly the role of a wife with the three C: caring, kind and cute.”
“I think that ‘kind’ starts with...”
“Anyway, she’s too much like Big Mac. While two loving birds in a nest are usually similar, Ah can’t see any of them come out from their shell of silence. Heavens know if that fella needs to use that mouth of his a little more.
"Then we have our Twilight, she’s smart and her heart is in the right place, but Ah don’t think that someone as simple as Big Macintosh is her type. Ah’m not even sure she’s into boys.
"Rarity would be a perfect maid, you know how much feminine she is, but Ah doubt she would actually bear our lifestyle. Ah wouldn’t bear her, for sure.
"Lastly we have Sunset. She is a beautiful, smart, strong and a lot better person than she was once. However Ah can tell she’s still adjustin’ herself to be a good friend, wouldn’t try to understand how to adjust for a special somebody at the same time if Ah was her.”
“What about Pinkie?”
“Yeah, no.”
Rainbow gave AJ a disappointed look.
“Don’t get me wrong, Ah love Pinkie but she may already be related to us. ‘sides, Ah can’t picture it.”
“Fine, fine. Now, what about me?”
“You would give him a hard time.”
After saying that, Applejack kept on a smile her eyes closed for a little pause. Rainbow Dash, instead, was just bemused.
“Sorry, but shouldn’t you say the good stuff about me first?”
“Ah just did.”
“Huh?”
“Ah know my brother, he would never settle with a woman that doesn’t need anything. He is satisfied with the hard work, and he would be pleased to apply hard for his beloved.”
Rainbow Dash blushed again. “Now you’re advertising for him.”
Applejack giggled. “Ah’m not, cross my heart.”
Then they both stayed quiet for a while. Despite everything, Applejack didn’t manage to achieve a confession from Rainbow Dash, but there was no need to rush things. While waiting, Applejack got a message from Fluttershy.
While she was reading it, Rainbow Dash spoke, “Well, I’ll think about all this, but it’s probably too late already.”
Applejack didn’t respond, instead she stood up and went for the door.
“Hey, where are you going now?” asked Rainbow Dash, without leaving her bed.
“Could you stay here, sugarcube?”
“Yeah, but why?”
Applejack’s eyes darted right and left, then she blurted a quick “Sorry” before leaving the room.
Unsure about what just happened, Rainbow Dash reached the window and stared down. She saw Fluttershy in front of her house, then she could see Applejack approaching her. Both of her friends noticed that she was looking at them by the window, so they waved at her.
‘That’s odd,’ thought Rainbow Dash. She didn’t have time to think about it, though, because she heard somebody coughing behind her.
Right beyond the door, waiting to be invited in, stood Big Mac.
Rainbow Dash gave Applejack a deadpanned look, with one last thought.
‘I’ll get you for this.’
Applejack gave a final wave at Rainbow Dash before turning towards Fluttershy.
“So, how was your day, sugarcube?”
“I brought your sister and her friends at home, then I had a talk with your brother.” Fluttershy paused a little. “And… I crushed in your front gate with the truck.”
Applejack gaze up while shaking her head. “It ain’t a big deal. But will you tell me now why you wanted precisely me to speak with Rainbow Dash?”
Fluttershy took a moment to gather a little courage.
“The truth is that, at the soccer field, I was a little, umm, peeved.”
“Wow, do you kiss your mom with that mouth?” said Applejack with a chuckle.
“Sorry, anyway I was feeling so because I...”
“Ah know, Ah shouldn't just assume things about my friends.”
“No. I mean, yes. But it's not just that.”
Fluttershy paused, she thought very well of Applejack and was very happy to call her friend. But she had to say something that could have ruined that forever.
“To be honest, I, well, I…”
“Pull it out.”
Fluttershy took a big amount of air, then she blurted out quietly, “I always envied you.”
They had a little pregnant pause while Applejack was taking that news with a big amount of surprise. That she barely showed, being Applejack.
“Wow, for real?”
“I… envy you for your friendship with Rainbow Dash.”
“What are you talking about? Ah always thought that you two were the closest in our circle. She's always nice to you like she never is with anybody else.”
“That's it. She always feels like she has to be considerate with me. And she's right, I am not brave or bold like you and the others. She often stands up for me when I’m in trouble and… sometimes I just feel that I’m holding her back.”
“That’s nonsense!”
“I do my best to make up with her, to be a good friend as she is. Then you step in and the two of you instantly get along. You don’t have to worry to be enough for her because you can so easily understand each other. You two argue sometimes, but then you only come back to be even better friends.” Fluttershy paused, a single tear was running down her cheek. “I can’t do what you do, and you’re not even trying.”
Fluttershy felt a couple of strong arms wrap around her, then a hand wiped the tear away.
“Sugarcube, you’re a great friend too. And it ain’t true that Ah don’t try to be one, ‘cause Ah know that my friendship with you and the others is the most precious thing that Ah have. Well, except my family Ah’d say, but it’s not a competition. Ah just want my friend to love me for who Ah am, so Ah try to be as honest as Ah can be with them. This way Ah can show them the part that they deserve, the best part of me.
"That’s what so good about you actually. You don’t have to be afraid Rainbow ‘couse who you are, we all love any trait of yours. You’re the kindest, purest of heart and the nicest girl that we ever met, and Ah bet that Rainbow likes to act nice with you. All of us like to go soft once in awhile.”
Applejack got so carried on her monologue that she had kept her eyes closed the entire time. When she opened them she saw Fluttershy, still in her arms, looking at her with wide eyes and a face redder than a tomato.
“Ah’m… invading your personal space?”
Fluttershy silently nodded.
Applejack released her grip with a sheepish smile. “Sorry about that.”
Fluttershy didn’t respond at all, she just kept staring at her, with a red face, for several seconds while Applejack was thinking about something to make the situation less weird. Unfortunately, Fluttershy’s face didn’t want to change back to normal at all.
Lastly, Fluttershy slowly and quietly reached her minivan, she sat on and she drove away.
When she entered her home, she was still having the same face.
“Mom!” she called with a deadpanned tone.
“What is it, dear?” asked a calm and motherly voice.
“If a gorgeous girl holds me and says a lot of beautiful things to me and I don’t know how to feel about it, what does it mean?”
Silence fell on the living room until a quick series of footsteps approached from upstairs. Then a breathless Zephyr Breeze appeared to question his big sister.
“It's not Rainbow Dash, right?”
Maybe she should have told him about Big Mac, but she couldn’t care less at the moment.
“No.”
“Aw, thanks goodness.”
Rainbow Dash was standing in front of Big Mac, who had entered in her room.
They had been stayed quiet for awhile, just looking at the different items of the room in slight embarrassment. Knowing that Big Mac would have never started speaking on his own, she opened her mouth…
...only to shut it up when she saw that he was keeping his palm open in front of her.
“Ah owe an apology,” said him. “Earlier at school, Ah thought you didn’t want to speak with me more than it was necessary, so Ah just reassured you and moved on. But Fluttershy told me that Ah should have been more careful about your feelings. Ah’m sorry for that, Ah didn’t want you to think that Ah don’t care about what you’re goin’ through. And… Ah also care about your feelings.”
Rainbow Dash finally closed her mouth, but her eyelids were as open as never.
Big Mac chuckled and continued. “Ah should have said it before, but Ah’ll do it now. If there’s something that you wanna say… you can tell me.”
Rainbow Dash blinked a couple of times. That was unexpected, she wasn’t sure what to feel in that situation, but it felt… good?
She made a quick check up of her state: sadness? Gone. Anger? Disappeared. Confusion? Just a slight.
Final verdict: she was good. Really good, actually. She felt like she was back, awesome as ever. And she was holding Big Mac waiting on his haunches. Time to fix that.
She put on a confident smirk and gave her answer.
Big Mac came out from the mansion, looking as calm and stoic as ever. He found his sister waiting for him near his truck.
“So,” said she eagerly, “have you got yourself a girlfriend, maybe?”
Big Mac chuckled in his usual way.
“Enope.”